This invention relates generally to gas sensor calibrators, and more specifically to systems and methods for remotely calibrating a gas sensor.
Gas turbine engines are used as a power source within a variety of applications. To protect the engine from the environment, and to shield a surrounding environment from the gas turbine engine, at least some known gas turbine engines are contained within an engine assembly compartment that includes an inlet area, an exhaust area, and an engine area that extends between the inlet and exhaust areas.
Within at least some known engine compartments, during operation of the gas turbine engine, a cavity defined within such compartments may include significantly elevated temperatures that are not suitable to enable operators to perform maintenance activities in such compartments. In addition, such compartments often include a hazardous gas detector located in the extraction duct air stream to detect the presence of a fuel leak. At least some known hazardous gas sensors require periodic calibration that is performed in physical contact with the sensor. During calibration, the gas turbine engine is required to be shut down in order to reduce the temperature within the compartment to a temperature suitable to enable an operator to enter the compartment. This known method of calibrating hazardous gas sensors often requires significant periods of time in which the gas turbine engine is not operating. In at least some known gas turbine engines, a shutdown of the gas turbine engine is required every 90 days to facilitate calibrating the hazardous gas sensors. In addition, at least some known sensor calibrators require electronics to facilitate determining a position of the sensor calibrator. Over time, the electronics in at least some known engine compartments may become damaged and result in a reduced operating life of the sensor calibrator due to environmental conditions. In addition, it is not desirable to position additional sources of electrical power within the engine compartment.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and/or system of calibrating a hazardous gas sensor remotely from outside of the gas engine assembly compartment to facilitate reducing the number of periods and the duration of time during which a gas turbine engine is not operating. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a system that does not require a human operator to enter into the gas engine assembly compartment and that enables the position of the sensor calibrator to be determined without requiring electrical components.